Bánh Tét

Happy Lunar New Year! A lot of Asian cultures celebrate the new lunar year and see it as the most awesome holiday of the year. Yesterday marked the new year and year of the snake. For Vietnamese people, we celebrate with a giant feast that features a bunch of different foods. My awesome parents sent me a traditional dish called Banh Tet, a log of rice cake stuffed with mung bean and roasted pork, and wrapped inside banana leaves:

The cultural significance of banh tet aside, it’s really delicious. The banana leaves impart a great floral scent upon the rice, and the sticky rice has a soft chew to it that I love. This particular banh tet that my parents sent has black beans in it too, which are pretty plump and burst in the mouth almost like a tapioca. Banh tet tastes great pan fried, and sprinkled with sugar too. It’s not our usual cooking or restaurant post, but I thought I’d just share. If you ever get the chance to try it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.